--- Runesight ---
The first worlds I’d wanted to find were called Arendi and Arithren, simply because it was the place with the most intriguing stories. Those two worlds are very close to one another, close enough that you could get from one to the other almost by walking.
In these two worlds, twins are sacred, they’re a sign from the gods themselves; a sign that change is to come. To this day, there has not been a set of twins in either of those worlds that hasn’t ended up starting a necessary war or making an important discovery. I’m not sure if the twins themselves are destined to change things or if they achieve greatness simply because they believe that they must.
A pair of twins was born one day in the eye of the storm between worlds, the tempest of connection like violent brackish water. One female and one male. Their mother named them, and then died to that same storm of worlds, her love on her lips. If this wasn’t an auspicious enough birth, the two were strange children, they knew things they shouldn’t know, they were powerful in the ways of magic and wise in the ways of their respective talents.
The sister grew to be beautiful, her eyes dark and thoughtful, her ways circling around kindness and gifts. She was graceful with her hands, weaving threads together and creating all kinds of things which she would give away. They called her Kui, meaning gift.
The brother was hard by contrast, in every way that his sister was kind he was easy to anger, but he was selfless and wise in the way of greed. He was willing to lose everything to keep that greed away from those it might harm. They called him Rui, meaning protector.
But the two of them didn’t know their true names, for their mother had died before she could tell anyone.
-
The stories always ended like that, leaving you with more questions than answers, had that story even begun? Had the one writing it down had a stroke and died before it could be finished? Or was the tale simply not finished yet; was there a pair of twins still out there somewhere, trying to find their true names and knowing they were going to one day change the world forever?
Were they daunted by the prospect of changing the world? I knew I had been, back in my fourth life, and even then I knew that I had the same path laid out for me eventually, a path of decision, change for the better or change for the worse.
--- FORA ---
The months passed.
I never really got along with Kureia, but she wasn’t all bad. She’d turned the new Ayfel into a sort of school. Any kid could come and learn to read and write, if they didn’t have anywhere to stay they could run messages or sort letters for a bed and meals. It wasn’t exactly the same as how Raia had run it, and while part of me reviled against the idea of changing something that had been my foundation, Kureia was still doing something that was good.
At first I’d wanted to run messages, until it became clear that people would ask for them to be sent just for a chance to gawk at me. The little hero, the immortal Foralen, who came back from the dead. I was still annoyed that Hivren had told everyone who I was, but it certainly made some things easier.
One boring day I squinted at a new child at the Ayfel—he was only going to be here for a day—wondering how someone could possibly be that dumb. He was probably around thirteen, which was ‘an entire two years’ my senior, but I’d expected more from him after learning he was a dimensionalist.
“No Timmi, you can’t teleport somewhere you’ve never been, are you an idiot?!”
He huffed at me, folding his arms with the petulance that came from being rich, “I’m sure I could do it when I’m older, just show me a picture and blamo!”
“Blamo?”
“BLAMO! I’ll be right there where I meant to go.”
I squinted harder, “Timmi, you can barely cast a simple warping spell.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“What makes you think you’re such an expert at this? People say you’re someone special but you don’t look all that special to me, you’re just a kid that the Shelex took in.”
I felt my lips tweak into a smile. “Oh, you don’t know then, that explains it.” He was from out of town, the kid of a visiting noble that Hivren had been asked to look after for a few hours.
“Don’t know what?”
It was a tiring spell, but it had been quite a while since I’d played this particular prank… besides, it would only teach him what he should strive to become. “You want to find out? I can show you, it’ll be fun!”
Timmi didn’t look amused. He huffed, “Just show off your party trick already.”
My grin grew wider.
His lack of amusement turned into panic when the gravity affecting him mysteriously turned off. He tumbled toward the ceiling, yelping and waving his arms like he was trying to swim. He never hit the ceiling though, he just floated about like a confused insect.
I nodded at him and turned to leave, “You never know when someone is secretly a master in disguise!”
“Get me down!!!”
I snickered and closed the door behind me.
I’d been growing calmer, stunts like that had grown further and farther between. Part of me wanted desperately to just achieve goals, to choose something and work toward it with a single minded intensity. While the larger part of me wanted to stand in front of a crowd and hold their attention, I wanted to be able to grin and joke and laugh with all of them, myself being the spectacle we could connect with.
The older I got, the more I found my goal setting side becoming dominant. I tried and failed to track down Niun several times, but he was gone and no one seemed willing to help me look for him.
I asked scholars and historians about abyssal dragons and other realms, absorbing the stories like a sponge. I found that stories were something that both sides of me could agree on. Tracking a tale down was the goal part, and telling the story allowed me to be in front of a crowd, soaking in their attention and gazes, the runes of their magic pulling at me.
-- the year 788 --
“And SO! The twins hunted for their names, pulled along by a single goal, giving of themselves into the world while seeking for the one thing that was theirs to take. A name is a wonderful thing, no one’s quite sure who they are without one. But the right name is worth more than all the treasures and art in the world.”
I finished with a grin, my arms held up before dipping into a slightly awkward bow, I met the eyes of a familiar ancient face down below, “And so, must I ask for your name?”
He blinked at me, apparently not having expected to be addressed in what he probably thought was the middle of the story. Little did he know that that was the end. “Sorry, keep going.” He hastily said, waving toward me.
I frowned at him, and stepped through a distortion so that I was standing right beside him, “The story’s over, I was asking you a question.” The people around us were dispersing already, used to my antics by now.
Estin looked oddly nervous at the display of dimensionalism, “I…”
I grinned at him, “Don’t you know who I am?” I probably used that card too much lately…
The old man that I knew so well scratched the side of his head lightly, “Um…”
I nodded, the back of my mind screaming at me for being so casual about this. “Foralen dei Imal, voted unanimously as the person most likely to blow up the city, seven years running.”
“I… I didn’t expect it to actually be you.”
My smile faltered slightly as Estin shook his head with amazement. He should have recognized me immediately, but… well Eliax had been a far more thoughtful person than I currently was at fifteen. I said, “I was never able to find you, what the sparks have you been running from all this time, old man?”
He fell into step beside me as I wandered toward Nightwind tavern. “Just a past that refuses to leave me behind…”
“At seventy years old?”
He gave me a sidelong glance, “I was too curious and now I know too much. Too many people are trying to silence me for all that knowledge.”
“Trying to make me stop asking? Let me make my own mistakes, thank you very much.”
Estin shook his head slowly, “So when did you… figure out you were Fari?”
I paused, examining him with a surprised expression until I realized that he knew. He’d known that Eliax and Fari were the same person. “I found out not long after I came back here. How long did you know I was her?”
“I suspected for quite a while, most of the time I assumed you were her daughter. But I wasn’t sure until just now.”
I relaxed slightly, “It’s good to know that you’re still in one piece. You came here looking for me then? Did you know I went to Ceruleia twice trying to find you?”
He smiled slightly, his eyes apologetic, “I was aware of that, but as you well know, I have far too much practice running away from things.”
Neither of us noticed as a crystal in my pocket began to vibrate.